Same-Day Home Repairs That Actually Happen

Peakzi Podcast: Your air conditioner quits on a hot South Florida day, your sink is backing up, and your fridge is warming up. The real question is not “who can do it” but “who will show up fast and do it right.” We sit down with Barbara Martoral, General Manager of ECM Home Services in Boynton Beach, FL, to unpack how a home warranty service becomes a true one-stop shop for HVAC, plumbing, and appliance repair without sacrificing quality.

Barbara’s leadership story is the backbone of the conversation. She starts in customer service and grows through multiple divisions over 35 years, which shapes a culture where every role matters and empathy is a management skill, not a buzzword. We talk about how ECM builds consistency through its ECM certification program, training everything from driveway parking and door greetings to call handling standards and “fix it right the first time” expectations. That focus helps turn customer experience into referrals and long-term trust.

We also get tactical about what protects a brand’s legacy as it grows. Barbara shares why ECM prioritizes workmanship on AC installations, including pulling permits even when it means losing the cheapest-price shopper. Then we shift into modern home services marketing and reputation management: how Peakzi helps ECM stay locked in on Google reviews, customer feedback, and operational metrics like punctuality, plus why AI visibility is becoming a new battleground as consumer search habits change.

If you care about home services business growth, technician training, stronger reviews, and building a team that lasts, this conversation will spark ideas you can use right away. Subscribe, share this with a home services leader, and leave a review with the one standard you wish every service company followed.

Powered by: www.peakzi.me

More info at: https://ai.ecmservice.com/

Peakzi Podcast: Home Services Success Stories

Transcript

Welcome And What ECM Does

Julian Placino 0:00

Welcome to the Home Services Success Stories podcast powered by Peakzi, the number one AI platform for growing your home services business. I'm Julian Placino, your host, and we have another great show in store for you today. Because today we have Barbara Martoral, General Manager of ECM Home Services. Barbara, welcome to the show. How are you?

Barbara Martoral 0:21

I'm well. Thank you.

Julian Placino 0:23

Excited to uh get to know you, your home services leadership story, and of course, about the business as well. So let's jump in. So, Barbara, tell us a bit about your role as general manager and what you focus on day-to-day.

Barbara Martoral 0:37

So our company specializes in home warranty service. And what that basically means is for one annual fee, we will cover everything in your home from your air conditioner, plumbing, to your appliances. With that, we have multiple divisions within the company. So we take we not only have, of course, our customer service division, but our field technicians. And my role day to day is to make sure that everyone is operating efficiently. We take lots of time in making sure that managers have their tools that they need to be successful in leading our divisions. And I'm always focused on our customer service and making sure that we're living up to the standards that we've always had.

Julian Placino 1:31

Gotcha. Okay. So so it is uh it's it's the warranties. Do you also provide service as well?

Barbara Martoral 1:37

Or yes. So when I say home warranty, what that means is it's basically an insurance. So for one annual fee, you cover everything in your home. So if your refrigerator breaks, you pick up the phone, you call ECM. If your air conditioner breaks, you pick up the phone, you call ECM. So it's basically a one-stop shop for all your home needs.

From Nursing Dreams To Home Services

Julian Placino 1:59

Interesting. Okay. That that helps uh clear things up a bit. I appreciate you uh clarifying that. So tell us a bit about your journey to ECM. What did you do before? How did you end up here?

Barbara Martoral 2:10

Interesting. I um I always thought I was going to be in the nursing field. And I started that out as a young age, and I was really excited about it. And then some things happened in the healthcare field way back then that um I thought maybe I'm not gonna be doing this. And um I got a um through a mutual friend, um, I heard that there was a position open at ECM. I'd never done customer service, even though in nursing that is you know a form of customer service. And um I came in and applied and met some wonderful people. And I thought, you know what, let me see if I can do this job. And um started out again, customer service, 1990. And from there, I just went through um different divisions within the company and started learning as much as I could. I had a wonderful teacher, um, the former owner of ECM. And um, here I am 40 years later, 35 years, I should say.

Julian Placino 3:22

Wow. Okay, so you literally started from customer service and all the way through through through GM. So, how would you say working all those different roles equips you for what you're doing today?

Barbara Martoral 3:32

You know, I appreciate every role in this company. It's from the person that answers the phone to the technician that gets to the door. It's not easy, but if we all have the same goal, you know, we we have a wonderful team here. And I just think that that's what makes me again just appreciate my my employees even more because I've done those roles and I understand them. And I understand that, you know, every day is not, you know, the best day. You're gonna have difficult days, and it's okay. We've all had those before. And I feel like I'm able to give just a different view rather than quote unquote the you know, the the collared shirt person.

Winning With Speed And One-Stop Service

Julian Placino 4:22

Yeah, I think I think you can have a great sense of empathy because of the path that you've had. I think it's also really interesting your tenure, Barbara. I mean, that's very unusual nowadays. So there's got to be a reason why you personally have stuck around. So tell me, what does ECM Home Services do exceptionally well that you think helps it stand out as a leader in home services?

Barbara Martoral 4:45

Well, again, I believe that just because the company has been in business for 40 years in South Florida, we've seen the market, we understand what our competitors do, and we've always tried to do it better. Our one of one of the things that I say all the time, just remember, if you don't take care of your customer, someone else will. So we've really focused on what our customer needs are and always trying to be above what the other guy is doing. There's other service companies out there, you know, they're they're gonna they possibly could offer a cheaper service, right? In today's world, sometimes people need that cheaper service, but at the end, who is gonna provide the best service? When you know you're in in South Florida and it's 84 degrees outside and your air conditioner breaks, when you call somebody, you want immediate service, and that is one thing that we guarantee our customers. If you call us before noon, Monday through Saturday, we guarantee same-day service, and not a lot of companies can do that. Um, we also, because the fact that we do appliances, we do plumbing, we do air conditioning. You know, I always use the the saying of, you know, back in the day you used to pick up the yellow pages, right? And you thumbmint through yellow pages to find somebody to come out and fix your toilet. And then the next day you have to find a different person to come out and fix the appliance. Well, guess what? You pick up the phone call and ECM does it all. And it's all of our own certified technicians. We do not subcontract any workout.

Culture Built On Long Tenure

Julian Placino 6:30

So I heard a number of things there. Number one, it is quality, it is speed, it is comprehensiveness of what you offer in your real one-stop shop. And also they're your own people. So it's all homegrown ECM branded personnel. I think that's great. Um, you mentioned that your team is great, right? So let's talk a bit about talent, culture, and hiring. So when you think about ECM home services as a place to work, what do you think sets your team apart as well as your culture?

Barbara Martoral 7:00

Again, um, I would say about 30%, maybe a little more, I'd say 40% of our management staff have actually been at the company for more than 10 years. So that itself is we are we understand the business, we understand um, you know, the working field, we understand training, we understand that people, employees have homes, they have families. So not only are we catering to our employees, but I mean to our customers, but also to our employees. We want employees to feel you know, wanted, valued. Um, one of the things that we do with all of our technicians and office staff is we put um them through what we call ECM certification. And basically, what that means is we train our employees from the time you pull up to a customer's driveway to the time that you greet them at the door. What is your presentation? How are you coming into someone's home? Are you greeting them? Where are you parking your vehicle? Are you putting on your booties? Just those little things make a difference when a homeowner is opening up the front door. Then it comes to the training of the actual repair. When you send a technician to the home, you want a fix the first time. So we we value and we put a lot of emphasis in our training of our technicians and for our customer service reps. We use the same ECM certification from the time the phone rings that you greet your customer until the time you end your call to make sure that they've been satisfied and everything has been taken care of.

Julian Placino 8:46

So very rigorous and intentional training at all levels within the organization.

Barbara Martoral 8:50

That is correct.

Julian Placino 8:52

So you mentioned that you help your team members feel valued. What are some examples of what ECM does to make their team members feel valued?

Barbara Martoral 8:59

Well, like I said, I grew up here in customer service, and I'm uh a perfect example, along with other leaders in our company, that every position matters. And if you dedicate yourself into learning and growing with their company, the opportunity for growth is there.

Julian Placino 9:18

Gotcha. Okay, okay. What else? Let's say that you know potential top talent is listening, whether it's in customer service, whether it's in the field or whatnot. What is your message to them? Why do you think ECM is a great place to work?

Barbara Martoral 9:31

ECM is a great place to work because um, first of all, we're one of the best companies in South Florida. Um but um, you know, we're we're we're an evolving company. We adapt, we're growing. There's so much opportunities here. Um, you know, we just went through an acquisition and um we have other branches or other locations that we're we'll excuse me, other locations that we are going to be branching out and offering our services to. So I just think that, you know, we we just let our employees know that they're they're valued and there is definitely room for growth.

Julian Placino 10:15

Love it. Okay. Well, let's talk about uh growth and uh a bit more about culture and really about your own personal leadership story. And I think it's quite remarkable that you've been with the organization, I think, since 1990 and you've worked your way up through many different roles. So, how has that deep firsthand experience across the organization influenced the way that you lead your people?

Barbara Martoral 10:37

Well, not only um, you know, the the time that I've been here in this field, um, it's really a man's world. Um, you know, most of our technicians are are, you know, obviously there most of them are men, even though, you know, there are women that are getting into the trades industry, but um, you know, in in the management side of it, the technical managers. So I think for myself, um just being as a woman, you know, putting in the dedication and learning and you know, looking outside of the potential of, you know, for me, what I tell employees is you you make what you want of your position, right? If you come in and you, you know, you have a job and you do that job and you do it well, great. And if that's the job you want to keep, wonderful. But if you do that job, you do it well, and you want to learn other things, there's so many other things to learn. And again, we part of our training for our customer service reps is we try to do some soft troubleshooting over the phone. So we actually have our representatives in classes learning not to fix a garbage disposal, but to have those little um uh that little bit of information that you could possibly help a customer over the phone rather than having them wait for us to come out and do it for them. So little things like that.

Protecting Quality With Permits

Julian Placino 12:07

Gotcha. Okay. Well, one of the things that I heard is that uh you basically you you meet your people where they are. If they want to continue to grow and expand, you offer them the resources and the path to do that. And also just being who you are, you have a it's it's a it's demonstrable at ECM that if you want to move up, you can because that's who you are, right? Absolutely correct. Yeah. Well, you know, as you mentioned, ECM Home Services, it's built a 40-year legacy in South Florida, serving homeowners with uh all the great home services. But as the company continues to evolve and grow, what other systems or leadership habits do you rely on to protect the legacy of excellence for the brand?

Barbara Martoral 12:47

The one thing that I tell our employees is always put yourself in the customer's shoe. You're a consumer, I'm a consumer. Um and again, and I said it earlier on in the conversation, if we don't do it, someone else will. So do we want to you know take the time and make sure that we're meeting all of our customers' expectations? Do we want to set the the tone for who is going to be a leader? Um, we also replace air conditioners. So one of the things that we pride ourselves in air conditioning replacements is our installations. There are there are many, many air conditioning companies in South Florida for heat. There's lots of air conditioners out there. But what makes a customer call ECM? What makes a customer call ECM and say, my neighbor referred you? Right now, I would say probably 70% of our workload is a referral based on it because we've done that service already. So we pride ourselves in our installations. Every installation we do, we make sure that we pull a permit on it. It's very important. I tell customers all the time sometimes we don't win every job because they are looking for the cheapest. I'm not the cheapest, but I am the best. But I tell a consumer, if you don't have us do the work, just make sure you get a permit because a permit is very important. A permit's going to make sure that the installation was done properly. And that's one of the things that we pride ourselves with our workmanship. There is not a company out there that's going to do a better job than what ECM offers.

Peakzi Metrics Google Reviews And Punctuality

Julian Placino 14:32

So it sounds like the habit is just putting the customer first and doing excellent work. And the referral numbers that you mentioned, like 70%, it speaks for itself. So I think that's a really good point. So um, so Barbara, we'll shift gears for a little bit. Um, ECM, of course, strikes me as a very forward-thinking company because you are a customer of Peakzi and of course, this podcast is powered by Peakzi. So tell us a bit about your experience so far using the Peakzi platform.

Barbara Martoral 14:59

So Peakzi has um brought a lot of, first of all, of some of the things that we're looking at, not that we've never really looked at them, but we're looking at them with a different set of eyes, one of them being our Google ratings. So we've always maintained, I would say, a good Google rating, but now with Peakzi, we're super, super focused on watching every single Google rating that we get. Um, you know, I again, I put myself as a consumer, I know that these days, the first thing I do if I'm trying a new restaurant is I'm Googling how is this restaurant? What are the Google ratings? What are the scores? Um, you know, what are people saying? Is this a restaurant that, you know, I want to maybe travel 40 minutes to go eat at? So um, those are things that we are really, really in tune with now, making sure that every rating that we get is a five-star. We want those five stars every day.

Julian Placino 16:01

Gotcha. Okay. So what was um what would you say? How would you explain what Peakzi is to another home services leader who's never heard of Peakzi before?

Barbara Martoral 16:10

I would say that Peakzi is gonna help drive customers to you. They're going to um, you know, just show you different areas that need improvement. Because again, not everyone's perfect. Not I I wouldn't, I mean, if there's a perfect company out there, sign me up. Um, but if you're not looking for those improvements, if no one's pointing them out, I should say, then how do you know what you need to improve? And those are one of the things that Peak zi helps us. We're able to go to our dashboard, we're able to see where we are, not only our company, but we get to see what our competitors are doing. And that also drives us to listen, I'm very competitive. I really I don't know if it's because I've been working with all these men and I've always had to be that person, but I don't like to be that guy that got the lower score. And I know that my competitor down the street is doing better. So we have we have weekly meetings. I actually have a Peakzi staff that or Peakzi committee, and they their job every week is to go through and look at what happened last week and put a game plan on what areas we need to be working on. And they give me that information weekly, and so far it's been phenomenal.

Julian Placino 17:37

Wow, you have a Peakzi committee. That's a first, I gotta say. Well, well, let me ask you this what's an example of um an aspect of the business that Peakzi helped you realize that hey, this might be something, an area of improvement we can capitalize on?

Barbara Martoral 17:50

Again, it's been the Google store. Um we've we've we've had again, we our our Google scores have been usually a 4.5, 4.7. Um, but we are really working hard in communicating with our employees on a day-to-day to say, you know, the minute your customer says, thank you so much, we appreciate you, that we capture them and say, do us a favor, give us that Google rating. We need that that score. We, you know, just go online. It's it's that easy.

Julian Placino 18:21

Gotcha, gotcha. So I always think it's really interesting about this this intersection of technology and also home services, but in your opinion, how important do you think AI visibility is in the world of home services?

Barbara Martoral 18:34

That's another thing. It is uh again, it's not that it's a new world, but it is really a new world, if you think about it. And um there are so many different ways to drive business, and AI is the top one. And again, um put myself as a consumer, I've done it myself. I've been, you know, heading to Broward and I needed to find that one restaurant. And I literally go on chat and say, you know, I don't want to say I'm I'm taking, I'm picking friends up and I don't want to, you know, have hundred dollar meals. Give me a $50 meal somewhere that's good, and real quick, I get that answer. So um it's just something that I believe everyone is using more and more.

Julian Placino 19:28

Isn't that interesting in your own personal use case? You said that you went to chat and not Google, like the behavior of how consumers, specifically your consumers in in um in home services, are changing the way that people search. And that's why AI visibility is so important, right? So um, so I I don't know how hands-on you are when it comes to the technology or if it's your your your your Peakzi committee, right? But do you have experience with the AI visibility tracker? Um, no, that I don't. Gotcha, gotcha. Okay, okay. Well, well, any other items that you think are worth mentioning that you'd like to share about Peakzi, how it's helped the business before we begin to close out.

Lightning Round Stories Family And Legacy

Barbara Martoral 20:06

Again, I just um feel that it we're getting a different look at the company and what is what what metrics we need to improve in order to get more customers our way, and um, you know, making sure that our customers are giving us that feedback and improving it. You know, there's one thing um I didn't mention earlier, um, again with the my Peakzi committee, um, we're able to see what customers are saying. So, for instance, you know, on time, as much as you know, maybe you don't think about it that often in business, uh, it's very important to be on time for your customers. So that's another thing that Peakzi shows out your punctuality. So, is that something that needs to be improved daily? Yeah, those are things that we work on. And and again, it's just just giving us a different light on how we're um making changes for improvement.

Julian Placino 21:09

Love it. Appreciate your sharing your perspectives on that. So, Barbara, we're gonna go ahead and begin to close out, and we like to end our episodes with kind of a fun sort of lightning round just to get to know you a bit more. So, you ready to jump in?

Barbara Martoral 21:23

Sure.

Julian Placino 21:23

All right, you've been in the industry for for a long time, so you may have a collection of stories. But what is the funniest service call or customer moment that you've ever experienced?

Barbara Martoral 21:32

Oh goodness. I this is I I can't get this is PG, right? Um we've had those. We've had those. But um, I think what honestly, the funniest thing, and it it's it this is true life. This really happened to me. Um, uh I did an on-call phone one time, and I had a phone call where we got a call at two o'clock in the morning. And the customer had some flooding going on. So we did our best. We got a plumber out to her home. We got there at about three o'clock in the morning, and we found that there was a water gallon that was under under her sink and had a slow leak in it. And that was what was flooding her bathroom.

Julian Placino 22:25

Oh man. Unbelievable. Wow.

Barbara Martoral 22:30

But you know what? We helped a customer. She was very thankful. She called the next morning and apologized, but we made it there.

Julian Placino 22:41

Oh man, that's unbelievable. Wow. Um Barbara, tell us something about yourself that most people don't know, but if they did know, we'd find pretty interesting.

Barbara Martoral 22:54

Um I have 11 grandchildren. 11 grandchildren? Okay, that is interesting. I had who would have guessed that? 11 grandchildren. I have 11 beautiful grandbabies. I have four children, and I have one daughter that worked really hard at getting me to 11, but she's got five. But yeah, I have 11 beautiful grandbabies.

Julian Placino 23:18

Beautiful, full family. That is wonderful to hear. Uh Barbara, what do you think the future of home services in is? And describe it in one word or phrase.

Barbara Martoral 23:30

Opportunity.

Julian Placino 23:32

Explain that a bit more.

Barbara Martoral 23:34

Absolutely. There is just so much growth out there for um home warranty services, you know, um, customers. Again, you know, the simplicity of just dealing with one company. We're we're not a national company, everything is homegrown, you know, our own technicians, our own um CSRs, you're not, you know, in Florida calling Texas. We're all here in Florida. And um, I just see the the growth capability and opportunity for us as being tremendous.

Julian Placino 24:11

Love it. Growth, uh, definitely we see that on the horizon as well. So, final question here for you, Barbara. When all said is and when all is said and done, and you've had a tremendous career already, what kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?

Barbara Martoral 24:25

Um, I would say just as, you know, again, um a woman in this industry that um if you have a compassion and you love what you do, and I truly do, um, you know, again, the opportunity is there. Anyone can do it. You know, just um come in every day and put your best foot ahead and um, you know, have fun. Have fun. Um, I've there's been too many days where it's been like, you know what? But you know, you have to enjoy what you're doing.

Where To Find ECM Online

Julian Placino 25:04

Well, I think those are beautiful and inspirational words to end on, Barbara. So thank you for that. Close us out, if you would, by sharing your website, your social media. How do folks get a hold of you and connect with you online? Absolutely. We are ecmsservice.com. ecmsservice.com. All right. And are you guys most active on any social media that you want to plug? Or um, we do have a TikTok. Really? Are we gonna see how they're doing the dances and all that?

Barbara Martoral 25:31

Or we do. We do have a TikTok and we also have our Facebook page.

Julian Placino 25:35

Awesome. Well, we'll make sure to put that in the show notes as well. So, Barbara, this has been really great getting to know you and the ECM brand as well. So, thank you so much for your time.

Barbara Martoral 25:44

Thank you.

Julian Placino 25:45

And everyone else, thanks for tuning in for today's episode. And we'll see you next time on the next episode of the Home Services Success Stories Podcast, powered by Peakzi, the number one AI platform for growing your home services business.